Lansdowne partnership lost money again last fiscal year

The Lansdowne partnership has racked up another year of losses and is counting on lower financial distributions in the years to come.

In its annual report, the partnership between the city and Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) reported a net loss of $9.2 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year. That's almost precisely the same as the previous fiscal year.

The new results, together with next year's budget and updated economic assumptions, prompted the partnership to update its fiscal forecast for the years ahead. It now foresees a reduction in distributions of $4.6 million over the 40-year life of the agreement.

The forecast is based on the current partnership, not the planned Lansdowne 2.0 project.

The partnership has posted net losses every year since it started operations a decade ago. It has never paid out a distribution to the city, and it is not expected to ever do so. Under the existing agreement, distributions are paid to OSEG before the city.

More events boosted revenue

According to the annual report, which will be presented to council's finance and corporate services committee next week, the partnership actually increased its revenues by four per cent to $59.5 million last fiscal year.

That comes amid full retail leasing and an increased number of events, though the poor performance of the Ottawa Redblacks negatively affected the results. Overall, the increased revenue helped the partnership earn positive operating income, but higher interest rates for the partnership's debt burden helped drive the bottom line into the red.

The city and OSEG have both argued that the financial difficulties of the current partnership underline the need for a new agreement. They are both supporting the Lansdowne 2.0 project, which foresees a new event centre, new north stadium stands and two residential towers.

They argue that the current arena and stadium are at the end of their useful life and will make it difficult to attract events.

Ottawa's auditor general has estimated that the Lansdowne 2.0 project could cost $493 million.